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Article published In: Discourse and politics of migration in Italy: The production and reproduction of ethnic dominance and exclusion
Edited by Monica Colombo
[Journal of Language and Politics 12:2] 2013
► pp. 226–250

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The representation of migrants in the Italian press

A study on the Corriere della Sera (1992–2009)

 | University of Milano-Bicocca
 | University of Milano-Bicocca
 | University of Milano-Bicocca
 | University of Milano-Bicocca
Published online: 2 August 2012
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.12.2.04mon
The research analyses media discourse on migration in Italy, regarded as a means of reproducing and maintaining a racist interpretation of inter-group relations. The theoretical framework is the Critical Discourse Analysis approach. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed on data consisting of headlines and articles from the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, published between 1992 and 2009. Overall, it emerged that discourse is built according to themes and discursive strategies already identified by similar research based on European media, indicating how this system of representations defines a common sense of cultural belonging and a shared construction of ethnic relations. The rather long time span considered in the study allowed us to focus on how the discourse on migration in Italy might have evolved over time, but also to identify any elements that may have remained unchanged.
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